Clarity on Then and Now

Something has been nagging at me since I sat down after presenting my lesson this past Sunday at Unity Spiritual Center Denver. I said something that upon further reflection I feel may not have been helpful and in fact may have been hurtful. My intention is to only bring through messages of truth that are supportive and encouraging. I never want to say something that would damage or undermine anyone’s spiritual or human journey. Let me elaborate.

During my lesson this past Sunday, which you may listen to here, I said I believe that we, as humanity, have evolved to a place where we no longer need to process all of our past experiences, deal with our past pain or work through our history. I asserted that we only need to accept our Divinity, focus on our truth, and live from it.

I used the analogy of Moses encountering God in the burning bush on Mount Horeb. I stated that if, rather than doubting himself and questioning the voice he heard in the burning bush, he had instead listened, accepted and believed the voice, which metaphysically represented the inner knowing that we all have access to, he would not have had to wander in the desert for 40 years without ever entering the Promised Land. He could have entered the Promised Land in that instant and lived into his Divinity in doing what he was called to do.

I either said or strongly implied that Moses and the Hebrew people wandering in the desert for 40 years metaphorically represents our struggles to free ourselves from our past, sometimes circling back over and over again to the same issues and telling the same stories, rather than accepting the true Light of our Divinity and allowing that Light to be the source of our healing. Further, I said, while psychological counseling and therapy has its place, it is not necessary at our level of evolution.

These are the statements I have struggled with since Sunday. If I had the opportunity for a “do over,” I would chose to follow up with additional clarifying statements. I fully believe that in the Absolute realm there is only Light. Further, when we are willing and able to touch that realm and more fully embody that Consciousness as our consciousness, we will no longer need to explore our past because it will have no meaning for us. However, I fully recognize that we are all in process.

As Paul said in I Corinthians 13:12,

“For now we see as through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face. Now I know only in part. Then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

We all have life experiences that are painful. Some more intense and traumatic than others. These experiences can leave residue of heavy energy that may darken our minds and our hearts. Each of us is in the process of cleaning the glass through which we see ourselves, each other, and the world. We do that by bringing Light to the darkness. Sometimes we need help. That help may come in the form of a qualified professional counselor or therapist who helps us to shine the light on our past and work through it. I know from personal experience the value of that work. Alternately, help may come in the form of a spiritual teacher who shines the light of truth through the words that enlighten our minds. Additionally, help my come through energy workers, a prayer partner, or others who speak words of truth for us. It may come through our spiritual practices – prayer, meditation, yoga, Tai Chi or many other forms.

The point I intended to make on Sunday and the one I am attempting to clarify here is that the Light of God is the only power that can transmute and transcend the darkness. That Light is within us all. There is nothing and no one outside of us that can provide the Light. They may help us to remember the Light. They may help us to reclaim the Light. But, the source of Light is within. All good counselors, therapists, ministers, healers, energy workers and the like know this. They are simply vessels for Light to draw forth the innate Light within their clients, patients, or congregants. If they claim to be anything other, run!

Every moment is an opportunity for us to remember the Light that we are. With every breath we can stoke the flame of the Light that is burning within us. The Light of God that we are is perfect, whole and complete. It knows nothing of past pain and suffering. When we allow the Light that we are to fill our minds and hearts, lifting us from the heaviness of our past, we enter the consciousness of Oneness – The Kingdom of Heaven.

It may happen for us in an instant. There are those who have had miraculous instantaneous awakening experiences and healings. Up to now, however, those experiences have been the exception. Most of us grow in our awareness of our inner Light through various paths of exploration and discovery.

Whatever our path, the important thing is that we begin right where we are to intentionally and consciously awaken to the Light that we are. Invite the Light to fill our hearts and minds. Draw forth the Light in our DNA through the power of our imagination. See it. Feel it. Sense it. Visualize it igniting in every cell of our body. This is how we can know ourselves as we have been eternally known in the Mind and Heart of God.

Now is the moment that we may “see face to face” and “know as we are known.” There is no more “then;” there is only NOW.